Quote:
Originally Posted by MadPadraic  Ok. So Loon is, say, about 2:30 from Boston. You are saying that it would take 4:30 door to door on a train, but less on a bus?
It seems like your setting up straw men. All the "costs" of a train are present on a bus: driving to a station (even if the station is a box store's parking lot), waiting for other passengers (slower on a bus in my experience: there is only one exit in the front and the isle is narrower), waiting for the bus, etc.
I don't see why a ski train to Lincoln would make stops along the way--I'd envision a nroth station departure and one stop in a northern burb to pick up passengers--or the need for a shuttle bus; why would you put the Lincoln station anywhere OTHER than at Loon base (maybe a second stop in North Woodstock).
Even if you did add a stop in Manchester or such, the time needed is really minimal.
As for North Conway, just avoiding that evil traffic would make a transfer entirely worthwhile. I also reject the notion that trains would be slower. Amtrak (regular service, not Acela) is faster from Boston to Providence than a bus, and faster from Providence to Penn station than a bus from Kennedy Plaza to Port Authority. This holds for virtually all hours of the day and night.
All this being said, I agree that buses are much more feasible (because of a lower level of demand) even if they are a much less pleasant experience. |
Your example of Loon is quite idealistic. What about Waterville, Cannon, Bretton Woods, etc. which are all along the I-93 corridor? Regarding not that many stops, if the train doesn't stop that often to pick up more passengers, that means the average passenger has to drive further (often in the wrong direction I.E. south) to get to the nearest station. A bus need only stop once to get filled up to capacity. Not sure about speed but I wonder if the current rail situation in New Hampshire could handle high speed rail service. I do know that MBTA is slower than driving by a substantial amount when there is no traffic. The trade offs for avoid North Conway traffic don't add up. Take the side road and you can avoid the worth of NC. Or better yet, head to VT where has better mountains within that same three hour drive to from Boston to NC areas. All things considered, the difference door to door would be substantial and I stand by my +2 hours estimate has being a reasonable estimation.